Author – Lisa Landolt
Publisher – Avon A, a division of Harper Collins
Published – 2008

This is the first novel for attorney Lisa Landolt, and what a splash she made with this work of fiction.

Sandra Greene is 21 and works in a pizza parlor in Dallas. She doesn’t have many friend, no boyfriend and she just isn’t sure where her life is going. Then she attends the wedding for her friend Annette and meets the women of the Hunt Club. The Hunt Club appears to be a matchmaking club but on a higher scale than others, their motto is that no one is unobtainable.

So Sandra jumps in and becomes a part of the club and is lucky to have her name be drawn as the next single woman that will be helped make a match. Sandra sets her sights on Mike Warren, an actor from a television show that she watched all of the time growing up. All seems to be going well, they are put into a situation where they can meet and get to know each other and it turns out they have more in common than she would have ever guessed.

All goes well until she is flying back from Hawaii and is stopped at security by the FBI wanting to know about the Hunt Club and did she know that they were killing people?

From here the book becomes even more fast paced and there are some surprise twists that even I didn’t expect…they made it hard to put the book down until I finished the last few chapters.

All in all this was a very enjoyable book and it is a little bit chick lit with some suspense thrown in to keep you on the edge of your seat!

(of course it doesn’t hurt that I know the author from college but I would still write this review because the book was really good!)

Author – Melanie Dobson
Publisher – Kregel Publications
May 2008

Sometimes life is about more than what you can see
4 out of 5 stars

‘The Black Cloister’ is Melanie Dobson’s third novel with her fourth due out in 2009. She is married and lives in Oregon with her family.

This novel is about one woman’s search to understand her past and why her mother conceivably abandoned her. Elise Friedman is that woman and when she put these questions to her adopted father, Steve, he refused to answer why her mother died, where she came from and what she left behind. Does Steve have good reason for not telling Elise the whole story or is he putting her in harm’s way?

Because Elise can’t learn the truth, she decides to seek it out in Germany where her mother was from before immigrating to America. She enlists the help of her mother’s friend, and US Ambassador, Addison Wade. They meet for lunch with Elise hoping to find out some answers but all she finds is more questions and no answers. Addison is afraid of what will happen should Elise continue on and pursue this line of questioning. But is she afraid for Elise or herself? What is this secret?

So Elise continues on in her quest for the truth and meets Carson, a seemingly nice guy that wants to help her especially since she speaks very little German. She manages to get herself in trouble – what book wouldn’t be complete without this occurrence? What is The Chosen that she has learned about from the various townspeople? Will the group give her the answers she seeks?

I wasn’t sure what to expect since it is labeled Christian Suspense. What I found was a very engaging story about a cult in Germany and how one woman escaped and 15 years later her daughter – that she saved from the cult as well – ends back up there to better understand her mother. I felt the frustration that Elise felt when she would run up against roadblocks and couldn’t get the answers she sought. I was mad at Elise for putting herself in situations that she had to know was bad and might not escape alive. But in the end, I was pleased with how the story ends and that while cults are not a good thing for anyone, it is possible to escape them. I was also glad to see Addison Wade realize that sometimes a job isn’t the most important thing in life, a lesson we could all take something from, that life doesn’t stop just because of what you think is important. That sometimes helping others gives you a better sense of accomplishment and is more fulfilling.

If you like suspense novels you will like this book, it will keep you on the edge of your seats wondering what will happen next and how the story will play itself out.

Reviewed for RebeccasReads.com (2/09)